BuzzFeed Meets White House. ...

MENU

The White House has gone all in with owned media, recently adding Tumblr to its arsenal of 17 social media properties.

It’s only a matter of time before Team Obama starts poaching talent from BuzzFeed.

By studying the trajectory of the White House’s investment in owned media, we can predict what such a property would look like.

Welcome to what we’re affectionately calling GovvFeed:

buzzfeed

Click to Tweet This Post

BuzzFeed Meets White House

To put the property in context, a few comments:

  • Every American wants “the real skinny.” Love the empathetic tagline for reaching the masses.
  • Given the White House’s never-ending quest to bring out the administration’s humanity, we can expect the family dog should enjoy a more prominent role in the public eye. As articulated by Melinda Winter, senior brand manager at Milk-Bone, “We know dog content resonates strongly online, so we have created a number of stories around the loving and joyful connection between dogs and owners.” Perf.
  • Think of JFK as presidential click bait with likely repeat appearances on GovvFeed.
  • Even the sponsored post has place on the property. As illustrated in the Department of Defense example, sponsors would likely come from other government agencies where they too can take the reader behind the curtain.
  • Baby boomers still represent a sizable voting bloc; hence, content with a nostalgia bent.
  • If one particular story is running hot — say, the Kissinger slam of Dennis Rodman — GovFeed can quickly roll out a series of stories that might range from a visual timeline of Rodman’s hairstyles to other celebrities who have tried their hand at diplomacy. The White House has the real-time data religion.

Will Team Obama at some point cross the line?

Of course!

It’s politics.

Note: A longer version of this post can be found at MediaPost. If you’re interested in leveraging the “GovvFeed” graphic, let me know and I’m happy to pass along the JPEG.


Leave a Reply